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Another congressman with the Beltway Disease, its symptons include excessive belching, frequent whining, need for excessive cash and stamping their feet unless they get their own way.. power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.. no where is it more evident than it is in the Senate..

Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., has placed "holds" against several of President Obama's nominees in an effort to force presidential action on the Air Force refueling tanker and other matters.

A hold means that the Senate cannot vote on the nominee. An aide to Shelby confirmed that the holds had been imposed, but he did not identify the nominees.

Shelby is particularly peeved about the refueling tanker because a tanker contract worth up to $35 billion was awarded to Northrop Grumman and Airbus last year, but later voided in a bid protest filed by Boeing. The Northrop tankers would have been assembled in Mobile, Ala.

Shelby also wants Obama to release funds so the FBI can build a Terrorist Explosive Devices Analytical Center in Alabama, the statement said.

Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) has put an extraordinary "blanket hold" on at least 70 nominations President Obama has sent to the Senate, according to multiple reports this evening. The hold means no nominations can move forward unless Senate Democrats can secure a 60-member cloture vote to break it, or until Shelby lifts the hold.

"While holds are frequent," CongressDaily's Dan Friedman and Megan Scully report (sub. req.), "Senate aides said a blanket hold represents a far more aggressive use of the power than is normal."

The Mobile Press-Register picked up the story early this afternoon. The paper confirmed Reid's account of the hold, and reported that a Shelby spokesperson "did not immediately respond to phone and e-mail messages seeking confirmation of the senator's action or his reason for doing so."

A San Diego State University professor and Congressional expert told the Mobile paper "he knew of no previous use of a blanket hold" in recent history.